So the goaltenders will be vital beginning at 8 tonight when the Bruins visit Chicago in Game 1 on NBC. Boston’s Tuukka Rask or Chicago’s Corey Crawford are two of the best.

Rask ranks first in the playoffs with a .943 save percentage and second with a 1.75 goals against average. Crawford ranks first with a 1.74 goals against average and second with a .935 save percentage.

Olczyk, who analyzes Blackhawks regular-season games on Chicago television, said Crawford has become much more aggressive this season.

“He plays much more outside his blue paint,” Olcyzk said, “or at least at the top of the blue paint than he has in the past. I don’t want to say he’s a shot blocker only, but certainly I think he relies on his angles a lot more than he’s done in the past. As far as Tuukka Rask, to me, (he’s) probably much more athletic, quicker side to side. Maybe plays a little bit deeper in the blue paint and relies on his athleticism.”

NBC rinkside analyst Pierre McGuire credited Patrice Bergeron’s knowledge of Sidney Crosby’s game with helping hold him without a goal during the Eastern Conference Finals. The two played on the same line in the world junior championships. McGuire expects Bergeron to match up in the finals against Chicago center Jonathan Toews, whom McGuire considers the key to his team’s attack even though he’s scored only one goal this postseason. He has had eight assists though.

“If you don’t have a plan to eliminate Jonathan Toews,” McGuire said, “you have no chance of beating Chicago, zero.”

McGuire also credited Jaromir Jagr with helping David Krejci’s game. Jagr is Krejci’s idol and they played together on the 2010 Czech Olympic team.

“Jaromir, no shrinking violet,” McGuire said, “I think came in and really helped David Krejci understand the importance of being a star, the importance of how to be a star and more importantly than anything else, how to make the players around him better. David Krejci has been a tremendous player ever since he’s been in the National Hockey League, but I think Jaromir Jagr put some confidence into him just by his arrival.”

Olczyk said the biggest differences in analyzing the Blackhawks on national television rather than local TV are he doesn’t use nicknames of players because most viewers aren’t as familiar with them and he reads far fewer promos. Play-by-play announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick handles those.

“I think I do the same job locally,” Olyczyk said. “I try to teach the game, I try to sell the game on an individual basis.”

Emrick said when he and Chico Resch called New Jersey games on local television, they probably spent 70 percent of their airtime talking about the Devils and only 30 percent about the opposition, but national announcers aim for a 50-50 split. Emrick realizes that viewers in Boston and Chicago won’t appreciate such an even split.

McGuire called Emrick the best play-by-play announcer hockey has ever had.

“His attention to detail is second to none,” McGuire said. “He’s like a coach getting ready for a Stanley Cup each and every night. He looks at every game like it’s a Game 7. There’s no day off for Mike Emrick. It makes everybody better. Eddie was talking about how it can be intimidating (to work with Emrick). You’d better be ready for work if you’re working with Doc Emrick or you’re just not going to last very long.”

The Bruins won the Cup in 1970 and 1972. Now they have another chance to win it two out of three years.

NBC will televise tonight’s game as well as Game 4 and, if necessary, Games 5-7. NBC Sports Network will carry Games 2 and 3. Each game will start at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than the weeknight games in the NBA Finals. But if even that’s too late for you to stay up to watch the entire game, you can view the two-hour edited replays on NBCSN at 6:30 the morning after each game.

NESN will expand its pregame and postgame shows to 90 minutes during the Stanley Cup Finals. Jack Edwards and Naoko Funayama will be in Chicago tonight and Andy Brickley will join Dale Arnold in studio. The shows will be on NESN Plus when the Sox are on NESN.

Rob Bradford will fill in tonight at Tampa Bay for Jerry Remy as Red Sox analyst on NESN for the second consecutive night and Dennis Eckersley will provide analysis Thursday through Sunday in Baltimore. Remy has not worked any Sox games since tweeting on May 28 that he was suffering from his annual bout of allergies.

“Have no fear. That’s all it is,” he tweeted.

Remy’s continued absence has Sox fans fearing that’s not all it is. Last week Remy tweeted that he had come down with pneumonia.

In April, Remy announced he had been treated for a reoccurrence of lung cancer last winter, but felt upbeat and positive about his future. He took a leave of absence for much of the 2009 season to recover from the effects of lung cancer surgery.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15

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